“Listen, Jon Jones wants to fight. [It’s] just when and where is what we’re working on now.” Dana White stood strong in his stance regarding a fight between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. Unfortunately, ‘Bones’ has oftentimes made it crystal clear that he wasn’t interested in fighting Aspinall. But as time goes on, the Brit gets more and more unrestful. All he desires now is a bout against someone. To do that, he went on to meet the UFC CEO and Hunter Campbell. But before the meeting, Aspinall decided to drop a bombshell on the UFC head honcho. And it was all about his peculiar interim title defense. 

On 20 March 2025, Dave Schmulenson, popularly known as ‘The Schmo’ interviewed the interim heavyweight champion prior to his meeting with Dana White and Hunter Campbell. One of the questions that ‘The Schmo’ asked the Britisher was if he considered the fight against Curtis Blaydes as his first official title defense as a heavyweight. With the heavyweight champion arguably evading a fight against Aspinall, the Englishman was forced to defend his stance as the interim champion against Blaydes. Even now, the reality of the bout between Aspinall and Jones remains uncertain. 

But was Aspinall’s victory against Blaydes really a title defense? Responding to Schmulenson’s question, he said, “I don’t know. It gets a little complicated with that because to be the best heavyweight ever you only need three title defenses. And do I have one or not? I don’t know. I’m not sure. But I think I should have one because it was a legit title defense. But it was for an interim title and it becomes a bit weird. So, these are the questions that I’m gonna be asking the UFC this evening.” 

The only thing that Tom Aspinall wants now is a fight. Even though the entire world of mixed martial arts rallied behind a bout against Jon Jones, Aspinall wasn’t sticking to him anymore. And in his unrest, the interim heavyweight champion provided Dana White with a deadline for the bout.

Tom Aspinall gives a deadline for Dana White to get him a fight

During a conversation with Adam Catterall, Aspinall revealed that if things weren’t working out with Jones, he was ready to move on. He said, “So we need to find out who the guy [the real heavyweight champion] is. If it’s not Jon Jones, get out the way, I’ll take the title, I’ll fight someone else, happy days.” And when does he want the fight? As soon as possible. That’s when the journalist suggested he go for International Fight Week. Of course, that was something that rang like music to Aspinall’s ears. 

The interim heavyweight champion said, “I like it, I like it. Anytime sounds good for me but I’m ready to go whenever I’ve told them [the UFC] that as well.” Well, being inactive for months and asking for Jones repeatedly seemed to have agitated Aspinall to a point where he now wants to move on from the two-weight UFC champion. Even though the UFC head honcho claimed that the bout would go down in the Summer of 2025, things seem to be slipping out of control. 

On the other hand, the UFC bossman doesn’t really want to let go of this opportunity. White feels the Aspinall vs. Jones bout could be the biggest fight to make in modern UFC history. And if the heavyweight champion desires to cement his legacy, facing Tom Aspinall is a no-brainer.  However, all that we can do as fans is wait and watch the story unfold. After all, one simply can’t hold the heavyweight division hostage for too long. Sooner or later, we should witness the battle that we all desire.

Do you think Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall can materialize in Summer 2025? What are your thoughts on the Brit’s interim title defense against Blaydes? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.